Week 6

You've made it to Week 6 of your Personal Walking Plan!

It’s your final week of your walking plan, which means it’s time to finish what you started.

This week, you’ll be upping the duration of your shorter walks. If you can, try hitting the 60-minute mark for all your longer walks and maxing out your intensity across the board. 

And you can – you’re a regular exerciser now! 

Here’s what you’ll be doing in Week 6:

This week we are upping the duration of both walks and keeping those interval training sessions going.

For your longer walks, keep that target of 5 out of 10 intensity. Remember if you can’t fit 60 minutes into your day in one go, you can break it down into smaller lots (e.g. two 30-minute walks that day at a moderate pace).

For your shorter walks, keep the same pattern of warming up at 3-4 intensity, then adding in the challenge of a few minutes at a 6 intensity, before reducing to 4 for a few minutes. Repeat this cycle for up to 30 minutes, ending your walk at that moderate intensity of 3 to 4 again.

Stretching exercises

Continue with the same stretching routine from last week. You should be an expert at them by now! 

Strength exercises 

Continue with the same number of sets and reps you completed last week. If you didn’t give the advanced strength session a go last week, consider challenging yourself this week.

Here's the video again to help you:

Advanced challenge: How to make the strength exercises harder

If you’re finding these strength exercises too easy, here’s how you can make them more challenging:

1. Sit-to-stand Squat
   Try this same movement without the chair. You may need to adjust the depth of your squat to be able to stand back up without extra support.
   
   
2. Calf raise
   Instead of using both feet, try one at a time (this is called a single leg calf raise). You will find this is much more challenging!
   
   
3. Step-up
   Look for a slightly higher step do the same exercise.
   
   
4. Wall push-up
   Instead of a wall, try pushing up from a kitchen bench or table. This will shift more of your bodyweight to your upper body. Alternatively, you could try conventional push-ups from your knees or toes.
   
   
5. Single-leg balance
   Complete the same exercise as before but try not to hold onto a balance support.
   
   
6. Bridge
   Set up for your bridge the same as before. Imprint your back into the floor before rolling up to the bridge position. Hold your bridge at the top of the movement for a count of five seconds (but don’t hold your breath!) , then slowly roll back down to the start position.